Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing has a hypothesis as to why NASCAR’s championship race will return to Phoenix Raceway this year. He believes the racetrack is paying NASCAR for the opportunity to host the season’s grand finale event.
According to Hamlin, NASCAR has better racetracks than Phoenix to host the Championship 4. However, he admitted that allowing Phoenix to host the coveted race may be monetarily beneficial for NASCAR. In a recent episode of Actions Detrimental, Hamlin summarized the situation as follows:
“It sounds to me like Phoenix is paying NASCAR. We don’t see any of that, but I suppose they paid NASCAR to have it there. So that’s how most championship events work, like Super Bowls and NBA All-Star games… the city will pitch in to host it because it has an economic benefit.” (22:40)
“That’s a source of revenue for NASCAR so they would certainly, probably rather have the money in their pockets versus going to somewhere else that makes more sense from a competition standpoint,” he added.
Hamlin observed that Phoenix fans fill the grandstands at every race, regardless of the time of year. As a result, he saw no problem with the decision. However, he anticipates some improvement in the whole package before NASCAR leaves for Arizona on November 8.
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